Gun suicides

Jennifer Fowlkes

David Fowlkes of Oviedo Age: 62 Date of suicide: Aug. 17, 2012 Weapon: .38-caliber revolver bought four days earlier David Fowlkes hated guns, according to his family. The Oviedo research psychologist had been an infantryman in Vietnam but since then had not owned or fired a gun, said his widow, 56-year-old Jennifer Fowlkes. He had suffered from bipolar disorder for decades and had been in a deep depression for months, since about the time he had lost his job as a training-system designer, she said. But he was on medication, had recently gone through electroshock therapy and was improving, she said. "I remember being so happy because he was starting to come out of his depression,"his wife said. "He would chuckle again." So she left on a business trip to Las Vegas. The day she was traveling home, he shot himself in the head in their garage. He had bought the handgun four days earlier. He had left a note on the door: "Jennifer I've committed suicide in the garage. Don't come in." Jennifer Fowlkes was stunned. He had assured her that he would not harm himself, she said. "It's the saddest thing in the world that someone you love would end his life," she said. "It still hits me like a freight train sometimes."

David Fowlkes of Oviedo Age: 62 Date of suicide: Aug. 17, 2012 Weapon: .38-caliber revolver bought four days earlier David Fowlkes hated guns, according to his family. The Oviedo research psychologist had been an infantryman in Vietnam but since then had not owned or fired a gun, said his widow, 56-year-old Jennifer Fowlkes. He had suffered from bipolar disorder for decades and had been in a deep depression for months, since about the time he had lost his job as a training-system designer, she said. But he was on medication, had recently gone through electroshock therapy and was improving, she said. "I remember being so happy because he was starting to come out of his depression,"his wife said. "He would chuckle again." So she left on a business trip to Las Vegas. The day she was traveling home, he shot himself in the head in their garage. He had bought the handgun four days earlier. He had left a note on the door: "Jennifer I've committed suicide in the garage. Don't come in." Jennifer Fowlkes was stunned. He had assured her that he would not harm himself, she said. "It's the saddest thing in the world that someone you love would end his life," she said. "It still hits me like a freight train sometimes." (Jennifer Fowlkes)

David Fowlkes of Oviedo Age: 62 Date of suicide: Aug. 17, 2012 Weapon: .38-caliber revolver bought four days earlier David Fowlkes hated guns, according to his family. The Oviedo research psychologist had been an infantryman in Vietnam but since then had not owned or fired a gun, said his widow, 56-year-old Jennifer Fowlkes. He had suffered from bipolar disorder for decades and had been in a deep depression for months, since about the time he had lost his job as a training-system designer, she said. But he was on medication, had recently gone through electroshock therapy and was improving, she said. "I remember being so happy because he was starting to come out of his depression,"his wife said. "He would chuckle again." So she left on a business trip to Las Vegas. The day she was traveling home, he shot himself in the head in their garage. He had bought the handgun four days earlier. He had left a note on the door: "Jennifer I've committed suicide in the garage. Don't come in." Jennifer Fowlkes was stunned. He had assured her that he would not harm himself, she said. "It's the saddest thing in the world that someone you love would end his life," she said. "It still hits me like a freight train sometimes."